A soil waste recycling site is to be built in Kingston Bagpuize despite protests from residents.

Oxfordshire County Council gave permission to turn the farmland at Swannybrook Farm into a site which turns waste soil from construction sites into fertile topsoil.

The soil will be screened and then taken out of the site.

The council’s planning and regulations committee approved the bid at a meeting in County Hall on Monday.

But Kingston Bagpuize with Southmoor Parish Council and five residents objected to the plans.

The parish council said it would be a noisy and dusty operation which would damage countryside views.

It also said it would create more heavy traffic on to a rural road.

Chairman Brian Forster was not happy with the council’s decision.

He said: “I just wonder in some cases why the county council planners won’t listen to local residents. I am somewhat disappointed.

“If the residents feel there is something to complain about they will.”

The site is accessed off a road linking the A415 and Longworth Road. Council officers do not expect there will be more than three lorries visiting the one-acre site every day.

Planning officers recommended the plans were approved, saying there was a need to recycle waste and cut landfill. They also said it was a small development not too close to any homes.

Melinda Tilley, Oxfordshire County Council member for Kingston Bagpuize, said the firm would have to stick to a number of conditions including operating hours. It will also not use a stone crusher which residents feared could be noisy. She said: “Once it is up and operating it will be fine.”

Oxfordshire rose grower Robert Mattock, who supported the application, said it would be a low-key rural operation and a sieving machine would sort the soil at the site.

He said: “This is a million miles away from what the local residents and parish council thought was going to happen.”

Applicant Neil Parker, of NAP Grab Hire, was not available for comment The decision came as the council dismissed plans to build a £20m waste recycling plant at the Sutton Courtenay landfill site and gave the go ahead for plans to build a £3m recycling centre in Kidlington.